Moonlit
by Hoxopasnei
Summary: Gaara is the troubled new kid in Konoha High. His siblings can only get so far and Sakura is the only one that can help him forget the past. But can she overcome her own problems? Disclaimer: I do not own Naurto. Rating may change
1. The Siblings

I forgot to make a little note of this before. 1. I couldn't find Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari's last name anywhere so I made one up. 2. This is my first fanfic and any constructive critisim is greatly appreciated. 3. I don't own Naruto.

**'Inner Sakura'**

'Sakura'

* * *

Sakura hurried to get to school on time. Not that she really cared about her lateness. She cared more about the fact that if she was late one more time she would be suspended for a week. As a result her grades would lower, and it would take more effort than it was worth to bring them back up.

As she walked, she caught sight of a crimson head gracefully emerge from a front door. It was quickly followed by a brown head that was scrambling to catch up with his shorter companion. She unconsciously walked faster, her legs knowing that they wanted to catch up to the mismatched pair even if she didn't.

Soon, without realizing it, she had caught up to them. She walked about ten feet behind them. They weren't speaking to one another.

Suddenly, the one with brown hair turned to look at her.

"What are you doing?" His voice indicated that he was unsurprised to see her following them.

"I'm walking to school."

"Really? So are we. We just moved here." His eye showed a friendly glint coming into existence.

"I'm Sakura Haruno. Nice to meet you."

"My name's Kankuro Kaze."

Sakura waited for his companion's name. When no form of comprehension crossed Kankuro's face, she asked, "What's your friend's name?"

Kankuro froze and looked at the shorter teen.

The moment her question was uttered, the redhead stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly.

Although he was shorter than Kankuro, he was still taller than her. He walked back to where she stood. As he came closer, Sakura saw that he had his eyes were misty green, sharp and analytical with a hint of something dangerous, they watched her. They were surrounded by dark circles that looked like makeup, but she could tell that it was caused by a lack of sleep. The paleness of his skin contrasted the darkness around his eyes and the violent red hair that twisted itself in the breeze. But the feature that stood out most on his face was a peculiar tattoo on the right side of his forehead. It was just as red his hair, and all the more menacing looking because of it.

His sharp gaze looked her in the eyes, analyzing, scrutinizing, and judging her. She did not look away. She refused to be intimidated so easily.

"I am Gaara." His voice was low and raspy, quiet and rumbling.

He turned around and continued walking.

"Wow." Kankuro murmured once he was far enough away.

"What?"

"He usually isn't that friendly. He must be having a good day today." Kankuro was still speaking too quietly for Gaara to hear him.

"_That_ was friendly?"

"It was for him." Kankuro was still staring at his companion with a lingering expression of shock.

"So...are you two brothers?" They certainly didn't look like it.

"Yeah." His tone was hesitant, as though he weren't sure that the answer he gave her was entirely true.

They walked in silence. Gaara kept distance between them-Kankuro and Sakura.

It did not take them very long to reach the school. They parted ways and the oddly-haired girl only gave a word or two of goodbye. She felt a little rude, but it wasn't exactly as if they knew each other.

First period was ridiculously easy for Sakura. Biology just came naturally to her.

Second period was always entertaining. Geometry was a subject that no one but Sakura and a few others seemed to really understand.

However, today received a variation in the normal routine. About halfway into class, twenty minutes or so, there was a knock on the door.

The teacher answered and stepped out into the hall while they class silently- actually, the moment she left the classroom there was a lot of talking- completed their assignment.

The girl with the pink hair had already finished the worksheet when the door was knocked upon, so she was looking over at the clock above the door, measuring the amount of time left until she could leave. To tell you the truth, she didn't like being in this class. It was great and all that she completely understood the material, but because of that it was boring the living crap out of her.

"Hey Sakura, can you help me with question four?" A pair of bright blue eyes suddenly right in front of her.

She just sighed. The blonde hadn't changed in all the years she'd known him. He was still as impulsive and loud as ever.

Hinata had managed to remain conscious this time. Just as Sakura had thought, putting her closer to the object of her admiration had desensitized her a little to his presence. It had taken a lot of convincing to persuade the shy girl to sit behind him as Sakura's partner and she was glad it was paying off for the pearl eyed girl.

She basically did the question for Naruto as he nodded along; acting like he understood what the heck she was talking about.

The teacher walked back in two minutes and fourteen seconds later with someone behind her. Someone Sakura had met that morning.

Oh the irony.

Well, at least things were going to get interesting, if only for a short while.

"Everyone, this is the new student I told you about a few weeks ago." Her voice shook a little as she spoke.

Of course, as she'd thought, Gaara had walked in silently behind her.

"Would you like to introduce yourself to the class?"

"I am Gaara." He said this simple sentence with contempt for all of us. His tone discouraged friendly advances with a casual death threat implied.

And this was supposed to be him in a good mood. Sakura would hate seeing him in a bad one.

He looked at the teacher as if to say 'can I sit down now?' The green eyed girl was beginning to realize that Gaara was _not_ a very talkative person.

The teacher was a little taken aback by his bluntness, but she nodded in consent.

'Oh, Kami, how could you forsake me? I do _not_ want to have to deal with this!' Sakura thought as he sat down in the large desk that rested right behind her at the back of the class.

**"Aww, come on. He's hot stuff and you know it."**

'What the-I thought I got rid of you!'

**'When are you gonna learn that I'm here to stay? You're stuck with me!'**

Sakura sighed irritably at Inner Sakura's rambunctious attitude. She was even worse then Naruto on a ramen high.

Staying in character, Gaara did not acknowledge that he was sitting down behind the girl who he had met this morning.

'Well fine, if that's how he wants to be.' She thought, only taking slight offense because that seemed to just be the way he was naturally. She could hear Inner grumbling for her not talking to her newest infatuation.

The teacher continued class for the next twenty minutes uninterrupted. Her teachings were mind-numbingly, agonizingly _slow_. It wasn't helping that she kept on checking the clock every few seconds. It wasn't her fault really. She had nothing to do.

The day continued in a similar fashion; Sakura continued to be bored out of her mind without a break. However, found that she had two other classes with Mr. Sunshine: Gym and English. And a more welcome surprise came with a friendlier sibling. Kankuro and she had Study Hall and Art together.

They chatted during the classes they had with each other, and Sakura was pleased to find that Kankuro was quite nice. A little opinionated, sure, but anyone who wasn't meant that they were either indecisive or they did have an opinion but were too big of cowards to admit it. Neither of those were types of people that Sakura wasted her time with.

He was quite mellow, despite being a little prideful at times, about most things unless you deliberately tried to pick a bone with him. His temper did ignite a little when she questioned his use of a certain paint, but he calmed down quickly when she showed him the color that the paint really dried as, being quite different than the color it so falsely advertised. Other than that, he was pleasant company to keep, she thought.

During her last period, Global Studies, something occurred to her. If they had arrived at school at about the same time as she had that morning, then why had it taken so long for Gaara to get to class? It shouldn't have taken a period and a half. Even if the trip to check in with the office had taken a little longer than usual, it couldn't have taken more than thirty minutes to do, which left forty five minutes unaccounted for. What had he been doing? Possible answers swarmed through her head and each was quickly dismissed one by one as improbable.

She decided to ask Kankuro if she caught him while she walked home after school. She felt that she and the older boy were on good enough terms for that.

These thoughts occupied her through the rest of the class. She was still in a bit of a trance when the bell rang and therefore a bit delayed in collecting her things. She hurried to get her bag packed; she didn't want to miss them. If she had, she might have forgotten about her question for Kankuro by tomorrow morning.

As she exited the building that had imprisoned her for the last seven hours, she caught the sight of a redhead in the corner of her vision.

Not wanting to appear like she was in a hurry to reach them to the other students, she only walked at a pace slightly faster than she normally would've taken.

She and Kankuro exchanged their friendly greetings while Gaara looked at her for a moment and proceeded to ignore her presence for the most part.

"So, Kankuro…I have a question. I hope you don't think it's rude. But the curiosity is killing me."

**'No, no, no! Go ask ****_him_****! Quit talking to this weirdo!'**

'And what, pray tell, makes Kankuro a weirdo?'

**'Well, for one thing, he was stupid enough to talk to you for more than two seconds.'**

Sakura couldn't justifiably argue with her there.

'Shut up! I'm trying to have a conversation.'

Inner quieted down and Sakura glanced over at the older brother to see if he had noticed how she had been having an internal conversation.

One of Kankuro's dark eyebrows lifted, a gesture indicating that she should continue and reassuring her that he had missed the whole exchange that just happened in the conines of her mind.

"Did the orientation meeting in the office take a long time?"

There was small hesitation before he answered. "No. Why would you ask that?"

"Well…I don't mean to be nosy, but your brother was a little later to Geometry class than I would expect if that were true. What was the delay?"

Her question went unanswered as Kankuro glanced at Gaara nervously. Gaara turned his pale face slowly to face her.

"I don't see how that's any of your damn business." He said coldly.

**'He's so hot!'**

'Shut the hell up! Being an ass is not hot!

Returning to the real world, she was a little surprised. Her question was, admittedly, prying and rude, especially since she hardly knew either of them, but she'd thought she made it clear that she wasn't trying to be.

The redhead returned to steadily ignoring her as if nothing had even happened.

"Did I say something wrong?" She looked to Kankuro, attempting to gauge if this was normal behavior for him.

He was watching Gaara like he could explode at any moment. And that was when she figured it out. Kankuro was _afraid_ of Gaara. His nervous demeanor from this morning and now his watchfulness only served to confirm her suspicions.

She decided against confronting the older boy about it. Knowing what she did of his character, he would most likely become angry at her accusation of being afraid of his little brother and leave her behind with his pride wounded. She settled for walking in silence for the rest of their time. She had already pushed the line enough today.

But there was something different about the Kazes. She planned on waiting to gather the puzzle pieces until she had the whole thing.

As soon as the brothers' house was in sight, Sakura noticed someone waiting in the driveway. The dirty blonde woman waiting noticed them and proceeded to get up and walk over.

"Hey, Kankuro. How was school?" The woman's sharp green eyes honed in on the girl standing next to the teenager. "Who's this?"

"Hey, Temari. It was fine. This is Sakura."

Temari raised her eyebrows, "You already trying to bring her home, Kankuro? I thought I taught you better. You always take a girl to dinner before you take her to your place." There was a hint of a smile playing around the corners of her mouth.

Kankuro, however, didn't see it. "No, Temari, she lives a little way down from us. I wasn't doing anything!"

"Oh, is that so? Gaara, what's the matter?" Her tone altered slightly as she spoke to the redhead.

There was no verbal answer, only the action of passing the woman with a cold glare and entering their house.

As she turned to face Sakura and Kankuro again, her eyes were slightly wider than they were before. Something clicked in Sakura's mind. This woman feared Gaara too.

"Well, Sakura, I'm Temari Kaze, Kankuro and Gaara's big sister." Her voice was sounding a false bravado.

"I'm Sakura Haruno, pleased to meet you."

"Well, Miss Haruno, since Kankuro seems to have taken such a liking to you, how about you come over for dinner?"

"I really would want to impose. You must be still unpacking from your move here."

"Actually, we had the movers unload our stuff for us. We're already almost all the way settled."

"I guess that's okay. But are you sure you wouldn't mind?"

"No, not at all. In fact, I insist. Your folks can come too if they can make it."

"It's just my mom and I. and I don't think she'll be up for it. But, sure, I'd love to."

Temari didn't press any information out of her, for which she was grateful.

"Then I'll see you tonight. Feel free to come over whenever."

After saying goodbye and Temari telling her to come over as soon as she could, Sakura left the two siblings. As she left, she saw a curtain in one of the windows shift.

Her mother was home.

"Hi Mom."

"Hey, honey." Her response was delayed, showing that she was not quite all there.

"Our new neighbors invited us over for dinner. Do you wanna go?"

She looked at her daughter with a vacant look in her eyes.

"No, honey. I'm busy tonight. You can go if you want." Her voice lacked inflection, as usual.

"Okay. Thanks Mom."

Sakura didn't want to deal with her today. She dropped her bag off in her room and quickly left the place she had once called home.

Throwing on a jacket, she knew it would be a lot colder when she returned, she left her house and walked down the street, knocking on their front door nervously.

* * *

This chapter is only setting up some groundwork. It gets better in the next chapter, I promise!


	2. Destruction

"Kankuro, get the door!" Temari's voice shouted faintly from the other side of the house.

"What?! Why me?"

"Because I'm busy, dimwit! Go get the door!" Their family seemingly had an odd way of showing affection.

The door opened to reveal a grumpy Kankuro.

"Oh, hey Sakura! I wasn't expecting you over so quickly!" Kankuro perked up considerably when he saw who was standing at the door.

"Come on in."

He walked down the hallway behind where he'd been standing and Sakura followed him.

The house had high ceilings and was furnished with a Spartan-like tendency. It was the cold colors of grays, silvers, and blacks, but still managed to feel welcoming. She thought that maybe it was the slight messiness. A book placed precariously here, a large cushion in the middle of the living room, but overall, it was pretty tidy.

But there was something slightly off about it. What was it…?

**'You're right there's something weird.'**

Sakura just ignored her Inner, too distracted by observing her surroundings to scold her for interrupting her train of thought.

Temari's head peeked from around the corner. "Oh, hey Sakura. Are you allergic to anything?"

"No, not really."

"Good. I think you'll like what I have planned. Kankuro, why don't you show her your study?"

Kankuro shrugged.

'Why does it feel like she's trying to set me up with her brother?' Sakura thought.

**'****_Not_**** happening!'** Inner had flared back to life at her innocent thought.

But she ignored her and followed him around a corner and down a flight of stairs into the basement.

Strangely enough, the basement was divided in half by a thick stone wall. On one side there was a large, well-used punching bag. Normal enough compared to some of her other friends and their odd eccentricities. The other side was filled with wood carvings and the tools used to make them. This seemed rather odd to Sakura. The normal basement items were still there, a couch, a TV, a shelf with books, and a few boxes stacked discreetly in the corner.

Kankuro walked over to the side with the wood.

"This is my workshop." He was obviously a little nervous about showing her his personal corner of the house.

Sakura gave him a small encouraging smile.

"I would've taken Wood Shop at school, but there was a prerequisite of taking a basic art class first." He seemed a little more comfortable after she hadn't made fun of him for having a love of carving.

And how could she? At least he had a passion.

He told her that she could watch TV or use the training room or stay and sketch something if she wanted to. He also mentioned that there was a fridge in the corner and that she was welcome to help herself to whatever she liked.

"The only rule down here is: don't break anything, but other than that, you can really do whatever you want."

After he was reassured that she didn't feel awkward, judging by how she went over to the mini-fridge, grabbed a drink, flopped down on the couch in his shop, and turned on American Ninja Warrior, he took one of the small figures on the table and took to studiously carving it.

Sakura was a little uncomfortable at first, but was soon eased by how concentrated he was on what he was doing.

'He really loves what he does.' Sakura thought enviously.

**_A little more than an hour later:_**

"Sakura, I gotta go to my room and get something. Be right back, okay?"

"Would you mind if I came with you? I'm a little stiff."

**'You'd better not be thinking about anything else.'**

Sakura gave Inner a mental _look_ while she waited for his response.

"Sure."

Kankuro led her up the stairs they had come down, through the main floor a little ways, and up another flight of stairs.

'Where's Gaara?' She thought. She hadn't seen or heard anything that would indicate that a third person lived here at all.

**'See? You really do like him.'**

"Now be really, really quiet. We don't want to disturb him." Kankuro disrupted her giving a mental strangling to her Inner's incessant chatter.

She nodded, convinced what he said was important by how worried he looked.

The brown haired boy padded quietly to a room at the end of the hall. There were two doors right next to it. One was open to show a bathroom. The other, to the left, was painted black and no sound at all emanated from within.

Kankuro opened his wooden door. His room had a dresser, a twin sized bed, a nightstand, and a shelf of pictures built into the wall.

The pink head bent closer to look at the pictures as her companion rummaged around in his closet.

Some of the pictures were without frames, but they looked like they were arranged in chronological order.

The images showed a family of four; a young Temari awkwardly holding a toddler Kankuro with a beautiful woman and a smiling man who looked a lot like the Kankuro she knew today. The next one had a slightly older Temari holding a small bundle with a tiny face peeking out and Kankuro looking up at his big sister, their faces were a little sad in the picture, but they were still trying to smile for the camera. That was followed by the classic pictures: the kids at a park, eating ice cream, a tiny baby that she realized in shock was Gaara eating pudding that had somehow managed to get into his hair.

**'Awwww… that's so cute!'**

The man grew sterner looking as the pictures progressed.

Kankuro was depicted holding an art set up in his hands at what was apparently his birthday party. Gaara was in a picture showing him proudly holding up a colored picture of a page in a coloring book.

The man's face grew lined. A red haired boy was shone smiling with another man who highly resembled the woman from the first pictures. Gaara's face slowly began to only appear in the background occasionally, growing more and more closed off. Temari's high school graduation picture was beautiful portrait. Abruptly, Gaara's pictures were cold; he had suddenly acquired the same closed off expression that I knew now. He was shone listening to music on the couch with his eyes closed. The man that looked like Kankuro disappeared from them entirely. Kankuro was shone working in his workshop in the other house. The second to last image was that of Temari in a graduate's uniform, proudly holding a diploma showing that she had studied law. The final picture was of the three siblings in front of their old house. Temari was smiling as wide as she could with one arm around Kankuro, who had a smaller smile on his face. The youngest sibling was standing slightly apart from his siblings with an emotionless mask on his face.

She shivered. 'What had happened', she wondered, 'to make him change like this?'

"Yeah. A lot's changed." Kankuro's voice whispered unexpectedly from right behind her.

She jumped in surprise, knocking a book off one of the lower shelves. It fell onto the wooden floor with a loud, crashing bang.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry! I was just-"She started to say loudly in her chagrin, but was cut off by Kankuro's hand over her mouth, effectively cutting off her voice.

His eyes were wide with dread, and his breath was rapid with a sudden adrenalin-rush filled fear.

A long moment passed in silence. Neither of them moved a muscle, she wondering what he was panicking about and he waiting for something.

A loud scream broke the silence. It was terrifying. It sounded like someone was being tortured, flayed alive, boiled, and torn to shreds in the most painful way possible.

She barely made out a horror-stricken 'No' in the shriek.

"Oh no." Kankuro became panicked.

He ran out of his room and threw open the black door. He leapt into the room as fast as he could, the shrieks still ringing out from within.

"TEMARI!" Kankuro's voice was panicked.

There came the sound of thundering footsteps up the stairs and I saw a flash of Temari rushing to her brothers' aid.

She came sprinting out of the room at a breakneck pace. She ran to the closet in the hall and pulled out a white metal case.

Watching these events from the door of Kankuro's room, Sakura waited until Temari had reentered the other room to shakily exit his room. She turned so that she was facing the interior of where the scream had come from.

What she saw would be forever engraved into her mind.

Gaara was being restrained by his older brother, holding his arms and legs down with his own while his older sister was cleaning the fast flowing blood from a very pale palm.

She quickly mopped up the blood and proceeded to spread a clear substance over the gash on his palm which seemed to stop the bleeding. Temari calmly continued to bandage the cut, despite the fact that Gaara was doing his very best to writhe out of his brother's grasp. Once she was done bandaging it, Gaara suddenly went limp. All fight left him faster than Sakura could blink.

She quickly ran down the stairs, intending to run out.

'No I can't just do that. I should give them a chance to explain.'

**'No! We gotta get out of here! These people are crazy!'**

Sakura tried to focus as she made her was meanderingly to the kitchen and sat down at one of the available barstools. She tried to take calming breaths and slowly counted the passing seconds.

That was one of the scariest things she had ever witnessed. She had seen people have a raging temper tantrum, break down crying, and panic. But what had just happened to Gaara was completely different than that. It was as if he wasn't entirely in control of his own actions. There had been a wild, crazed look in his eyes as he struggled that showed he wasn't seeing the same things she had. He'd been seeing something that he was fighting for his life against, bringing forth the struggling instincts that emerge when one is faced with a life-threatening situation. His mind had been overpowered by the fight or flight reaction that everyone is born with and cannot escape when cornered. And the way that he had suddenly just dropped, limp and lifeless onto the floor…it was like watching him die. Whatever his mind had been conjuring images of, it had abruptly shut down, deserting his wracked body to recover.

She suddenly wasn't sure of her decision to stay. She could've walked out and pretended that it had never happened. She could have gone home, done her homework, eaten dinner with her mother's ghost, and carried on with her life. The option of walking away from this dysfunctional family vanished the moment she had sat down. But did she want that? She already had enough problems of her own. She had her future, her mother, and the normal everyday things to worry about and take care of. By staying she had made the choice to see this through. A choice she found herself questioning the rationality of. Even her inner had agreed with her, something that never happened between them. This could end badly, with her even more screwed up and backwards than she already was. Or…it could get better. But the path of light barely shone through the possible darkness. And the question still remained, had she made the right choice?

Kankuro came down ten minutes later holding his little brother in his arms. Temari was close behind him.

"She probably ran out Kankuro. I wouldn't have stuck around if that were me. I thought he was getting better. It's been so long since his last fit."

"Yeah…" Kankuro's voice was soft with worry.

Sakura saw them lay their brother on one of the couches in the living room gently.

Temari walked into the kitchen, still talking to Kankuro. She stopped abruptly when she saw Sakura sitting there. None of them moved.

Temari broke the stalemate by walking over to opposite where Sakura was. Sakura used the spinning abilities of the stool she was sitting on to face her once again.

"What was that?"


	3. An Explanation and Tacos

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Thanks for the reviews FallenCrimsonStar, UchihaJennifer, and Barbara7chan! It's great to know that you like it so far. Just wait for what I've got planned!

'Sakura'

**'Inner Sakura'**

* * *

Her question was met with silence and downcast eyes.

"Was that normal for him?"

"Gaara has some…problems." Temari was whispering, she sounded scared.

"That wasn't 'problems'! I thought he was just cranky and antisocial! Is he seeing a doctor at least?"

"No, he's not. We thought…we thought he was getting better. It's been months since he had an episode like that one." She was still whispering.

"Why not?! Isn't that what he needs?! He's obviously not getting any better!" Her voice had risen to a low shout.

There was a long, stretched out silence.

"We can't."

"Why?" Sakura's voice softened. The older girl just sounded so broken and sad.

"The doctor would have to know the cause in order to treat him. He would want to know the whole story, and Gaara would be in trouble and so would we. We would probably be put in prison and he in an asylum."

Yes, this was a puzzle. But did she really want to know the answers?

**'Well, fuck, we're already here aren't we?'**

She took a moment to absorb this. They were involved in something. Something bad.

"How long has he been like this?" Her voice had become quiet too, whispering just like Temari.

"I suppose about seven years." She looked her in the eyes. "You can't tell anyone. We _can_ do this by ourselves. I will get my brother back. I will do anything to see him smile. To hear him laugh, even if it's only once. I _will_ get my baby brother back." She had regained that former vigor of spirit that she'd seen earlier, trying to force Sakura to understand her desperation.

"_We'll_ do anything." Kankuro corrected, coming to stand behind his sister in a supporting gesture.

"…what happened?" People don't just break into pieces like that. At least, she had never heard of that happening.

"Gaara was… abused by our father. He blamed him for our mother's death…and I'm ashamed to say that we did too. When we were old enough to understand that it wasn't, it was too late. Our uncle was kind to him…until the day he told Gaara that her death _was_ his fault. And…that day…it ended badly. He's never been the same." Temari's voice had gotten shaky by the end of her explanation.

**'Well, damn! That's one heck of a childhood. And we thought ours was bad.' **Inner Sakura's mouth was hanging open in shock.

"What happened to your mother?" She just couldn't shut her blabbering mouth, could she?

"…she died…while…" Temari was getting a little choked up. Usually she didn't allow her emotions to get the better of her, but tonight's events had been so emotionally stressing that she was barely able to keep them at bay. She wasn't even sure if Sakura would tell anyone else about their family's secrets. And if that happened, they would be separated, never to see each other again. She didn't think that she would be able to take that. Her strength of spirit would not withstand that particular crushing blow. Her chin started to tremble at the thought of what could happen, warning her brother of the potential tears that his sister hardly ever shed.

"While giving birth to him." Kankuro took over the conversation rescuing his sister from the embarrassment of the impending breakdown.

Suddenly, Sakura saw what this mess was. This mess was a family more broken and mangled than her own fragmented family. And they were going to see it through to the end. They obviously had more than a few skeletons hidden in the closet other than what they had just told her. But they were trying their best to move on. She had to admire them for that. The display of determination was admirable.

Temari saw the understanding flood into the young teenager's eyes. She breathed a sigh of relief. Temari knew she could trust her. For whatever reason, the girl had stayed to hear them out, and now she had accepted their relatively vague explanation for why things were the way they were in their family without insisting on hearing the whole story. And Temari would have thanked her a thousand times over just for that if the remaining shreds of her dignity had allowed it. But the moment where she had almost cried had been enough strain for one night.

"Well, if you're up for it, we'd still love to have you over for dinner." Temari successfully retained her former brightness in her voice. That was the Temari that her brothers needed; a strong one who could make enough money to support them and the strength of mind to help them get over their problematic pasts still haunting them. Being the eldest, she had been around the least while her father had beaten Gaara, and was the least affected by it. But that did nothing to diminish the pain she felt now whenever she saw the wreck of a human being she had callously allowed her baby brother to become.

Sakura only nodded. She looked toward the living room with trepidation. She still hadn't forgotten the agonized frenzy he had been in only a short while before.

"Come on. It's safe. He's always sort of in a comatose state after a fit." Softly, Kankuro took her arm and pulled her towards the living room.

She allowed him to lead her, leaning back on him for support, even if she had accepted that their family was totally screwed up under the surface, she was still afraid of the volatile redhead. He led her to a chair on the other side of the room from where he lied.

The guest sat down and watched him. His face was so peaceful, serene as he slept. She noticed how small he really was. His thin frame was more relaxed as he slumbered, making him appear to collapse in on himself. He looked so much like a child, so innocent, Sakura found it hard to believe that he was the one who had elicited such bone chilling cries.

"He looks so peaceful." She whispered.

"He's not sleeping. He can hear you." A harsh, mocking, yet somehow strangely quiet voice came from the small body that had lied to her and told her it was sleeping.

Green eyes snapped open and fixated on the pink hair and trailed down to the emerald irises that were open wide in surprise.

His eyes stayed on her for a few moments.

"Kankuro, book." He whispered hoarsely.

The middle child got up and snatched a large text from a stack that was near the window. He handed it to his little brother who sat up and grabbed it quickly, flipping to a page that he apparently remembered from having read it before.

They stayed that way for a while. Sakura occasionally asked Kankuro something inconsequential or commented on a random topic, but for the most part there was no speaking.

She found that Gaara could read ridiculously fast and turned the pages of the text every few seconds.

Her lingering curiosity eventually got the better of her and she walked over to the waist high stack of books lying underneath the windowsill. The book on the top of the stack was only slightly smaller than the one Kankuro had gotten for him to read. It was a math text and its title alone was completely incomprehensible to her.

She turned to Kankuro and raised an eyebrow. He just shrugged, managing to portray that he didn't understand it in the least without actually using his voice to tell her.

She retreated to her seat again, processing this new piece of information.

**'So the tortured, possibly insane hottie is also extremely intelligent? I change my mind. Let's stay. Once you get over the whole crazy thing, he's really the complete package, isn't he? My type has officially changed. I'm goin' after the bad boys!'**

'So now you show up? Where were you ten minutes ago? And you have no tact _or_ sensitivity, do you?'

**'Huh?'**

'Never mind. You're just as hopeless as ever.' Her inner had successfully thrown her train of thought off its tracks.

"Alright, ya chatty bunch, dinner's ready!" Temari's cheerful voice broke the silence unexpectedly, causing the green eyed girl to jump slightly in her seat. Temari was evidently trying to act as if this afternoon's incident had never happened. But Sakura still wasn't used to loud noises, having lived with her distant mother and utter lack of siblings for so many years in almost complete silence.

Sakura and the middle child got up and headed to the kitchen. Gaara took his time and mentally marked his page before slowly getting up and sauntering over to the kitchen.

Tacos. That one word should explain the state the kitchen was in now. Just tacos. Everywhere. And nachos. Of a sort.

"I didn't know what you liked, but I figured that tacos were pretty universal." Temari had a sort of embarrassed look on her face.

"Oh, that's fine. Tacos are great. Good choice." She mumbled quietly.

"Yeah, well. You haven't tasted Temari's cooking yet. Hey!" Kankuro had to dodge the angry fist to the gut that Temari had thrown his way.

She laughed internally at their antics. Her stomach grumbled, upset that she was inhaling the scent of the food instead of shoveling it into her mouth like it wanted her to.

Kankuro, of course, was the first to pile an impressive mountain of food on his plate. Sakura followed but only took a small portion because, although she was hungry, she knew that her stomach had an incredibly low capacity and was lying to her. She followed the older boy to the line of barstools where he flipped a switch. She jumped slightly as the back wall of the kitchen moved and slid to the side to reveal a large flat screen.

"You guys really decked the place out."

The only response she received was an amused smile of humble acknowledgement from Temari.

They flipped on a sitcom and, of course, proceeded to completely ignore it. She surmised that it had been turned on to make up for an awkward moment in conversation if it should occur or to entertain her if she got bored or left out of the, well, there was nothing else to call what they had just begun, an argument.

Gaara slipped into the stool at the end of the row of stools. She glanced over at him; her uneasiness over this afternoon's events had not entirely dissipated. He was troubled, and if she had learned anything in her fifteen years of living around her troublemaking friends, it was how to tell when the shit was gonna hit the fan. This was close. Although he seemed calmer now, she couldn't force her guard to lower. She was still on high alert for the next meltdown.

**'You know, in a sad sort of way, their family is still more of a family than ours is.'**

Sakura looked at the three of them, even with Gaara's distant behavior and apparent detachment from his housemates, her inner was right. Her mother's depression hadn't gotten any better in the years after her father's death. Mrs. Haruno had always been so bright, happy, and vibrant with the abundance of life that she emanated. Not a day had passed without her gasping to catch her breath after an intense fit of laughter, or she and her late father sharing a loving glance. Something always gave her mother that spark that naturally made other people want to dance in merriment alongside her.

It was like she didn't even know her now. She wasn't even a shadow the same person Sakura had known and loved anymore. She could still be heard late into the night crying over the loss of her beloved husband. She never let it show to the neighbors and did her best to hide it from her young daughter. But there was no denying it. She was still mourning her husband under the crushing weight of his absence. There were no more smiles simply because she could, no more spontaneous dances in the middle of the kitchen with random fruit, gone were the days that her mother just sat down in the sun and enjoyed its warmth. She tried to take care of Sakura and be there for her the best that she could, but had failed. Her father wasn't the only one who had died that fateful day; he had taken her mother with him in the car crash. Now there were only two strangers living under the one roof.

It had been a long time since she had called the quiet building her home. Now it was just the house she lived in. No real ties to it remained.

While she had been reminiscing the past and the present, Kankuro and Temari had initiated in a heated discussion on whether she would take the third bedroom on the second floor or if she would sleep in her bedroom tonight. It was unspoken that she wanted to sleep upstairs due to the fact that she was worried about Gaara's fragile state of mind. But Kankuro was profusely refusing, saying that she made too much noise because she always had to get up in the middle of the night for various reasons.

She looked at them in envy. Their family was on the mend and hers was still falling into a pit in shambles and she was unable to do anything.

Her pink head happened to glance at Gaara, and was surprised to see how little food he had. It was only a few bites…and it didn't look like he had eaten anything at all, just looked at it. He noticed and his eyes slid to look at her out of their corners without turning his head.

They were completely emotionless. The lack of expression…it was even less than her depressed mother displayed in a whole month. His siblings had filled her in on most of what she wanted to know. But what they had told her wasn't the whole story. No, they were probably waiting for him to tell her, if he would tell her at all. Most people don't just spill their secrets and pasts the moment you meet them, unless they were drunk or high. And she was under the impression that they were neither.

She hurriedly turned back to her food and continued to eat the tacos that were actually quite good, despite what Kankuro had said about his sister's culinary abilities. His eyes were unnerving.

**'And you think I'm rude? How could you even think such things about our generous hosts?'**

'You're _so_ annoying.'

Inner just smiled.

Dinner passed quickly, taking more time than it seemed to, and before they knew it the clock read that it was almost nine.

They said their goodbyes, Gaara being the only one who didn't say anything, and Sakura rushed home, remembering the amount of homework she still had to do. When she arrived, her mother had disappeared into her room and left the house eerily quiet after being around the Kazes and their boisterous manner, excluding the one persistently quiet sibling of course.

She flew through the homework, with the exception of one question on her Global Studies sheet that had her stumped for about ten whole minutes. Post-homework, she took a shower, changed into her pajamas, and flopped down on her bed.

Contemplation was inevitable once she stared into the darkness, wide awake. Who would have thought that she would meet such people? She had friends, but these days, between them living so far away and how concentrated she'd been on her schoolwork these past few months, they hadn't really hung out in what was going on a year. She only had classes with a few of them and she had realized that she was really out of the loop. Sakura hadn't minded of course. Friends were friends and hers would never truly abandon the pink haired girl, she'd made sure of that before she'd allowed them to be her friends. But these people were so _strange_. One was a deranged psychopath with some major issues her needed to work out, one was a raging carving fanatic, and the third was a cheerful blonde who graduated from law school and was trying to pick up the broken pieces of her family and glue them back together. So why had she felt more at ease with them than with anyone else in a long time? It didn't make any sense. They were practically strangers, for all she knew, Kankuro and Temari could be in a gang and Gaara could be high on drugs. No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't come up with a good, solid reason. Maybe it was because they had been so open with her. Maybe it was because they hadn't expected a thing of her. But who could be sure? She had known them a grand total of thirteen hours. You couldn't expect to know a person after that little time. That was nothing compared to the years she had known her other friends. But then why had she felt so welcome? So accepted among their ranks? If there was an answer, it was one she couldn't find. Her restless mind allowed her to fall into a much needed rest eventually, and finally allowed her to enjoy a dreamless sleep.


	4. An Accident and Consequences of Memories

I'm going to be taking my time with the following chapters. They're getting a little tricky and I want to make sure that I'm doing them right.

'Sakura'

**'Inner Sakura'**

* * *

The next day, she rushed to get ready, having forgotten to set her alarm and had only woken up because she was so used to waking up at that time. The green eyed beauty only paused to grab a bar and a few bucks for lunch money in her dash out of the door.

While running down the path, she noted that her mother's car was gone. At least she'd left the house today.

Sakura continued to build the relationship that had begun that momentous day. Temari invited her over to their house almost every night and Sakura found herself accepting the invitations more and more frequently. She was aware that over the months of their almost constant interaction, she was almost becoming like an adopted sister to them. They really were great people. They were fun to be around, simple as that. She felt like she could be open with them and them with her, though they never let much more slip than what they had that first night. She could feel her family expanding to include the Kazes. The siblings managed to slowly pry out and piece together the issues that ran deep in her family, and they accepted her all the more because of it. Gaara had continued to be coldly distant and antisocial. He had evidently decided that she was not going to become a part of his personal definition of his family and treated her like she wasn't there or she was an outright stranger. She doubted that he even considered Kankuro and Temari to be anything more than blood relatives. They didn't spend more than a few minutes of the day together, it seemed. He hadn't spoken to Sakura since the first day they had met. In fact, she hadn't even heard him say more than five words at a time on any given day in class or no. He had to be holding some kind of record by this point. That was, until the day of the incident.

It was Saturday and she was mooching off of their hospitality, as was the well-established routine. Temari had set her mind to making dinner a little early so they could finally meet the infamous group of Sakura's older friends. Gaara, of course, had yet to make an appearance out of his secluded room that day.

His older sister hadn't wanted him to have a knife up in his room for obvious reasons even though nothing like that had happened since the first day. She had gone upstairs to retrieve him while Sakura and Kankuro had moaned and groaned about the stuck up preppy girl who had been assigned to be in their group art project and thought that they should bow down to her because she owned the world. They'd had a conflict of interest, and, suffice to say, there had been a rather loud quote on quote 'discussion'. The teacher in charge had just dismissed it said that it was good to have different people with different opinions work together because it would improve all of their skills as a whole.

Gaara had come down in his usual downcast manner and Temari rushing ahead of him.

Dinner had commenced and everybody but the gloomy insomniac had been looking forward to the planned night of fun with Naruto and the others. No one really knew if he was planning on going with them or not. Dinner had passed quickly and they were soon cleaning up the mess they'd made.

Temari had been busy with tidying up the utensils she had used to make dinner. Sakura and Kankuro were watching some idiot on TV try to leap over a fence and were cracking up. Gaara was sitting quietly, listening and watching.

Because she was in a hurry to leave, the older blonde had grown a little rushed and tripped. Unfortunately, she had also been holding something at that moment. Something very sharp. Temari landed on the carving knife and they could only watch as the red life-liquid stained her pearl gray blouse.

"Temari, what…?" Sakura only stared at her bloodied form uncomprehendingly.

Temari was taking short, gasping breaths to deal with the sudden shock of pain. Kankuro was beside her in a flash and flipped his sister over so that the knife wasn't pressing even farther in against the floor into her abdomen.

Springing into action, Sakura fished her cell phone out of her pocket.

"Hello, what's your emergency?" A mellow female voice was so out of place in the situation that Sakura had the inane urge to laugh.

"Yeah, hi. Myfriendwascleaningupdinnera ndshewasholdingaknifeandshet rippedandshestabbedherself. We're on 37268 Peligro Avenue!" Sakura's adrenalin rush burst out, finding an outlet. It was surprising that the operator managed to get anything out of what she had hurriedly said.

"Where is the injury?" The operator's voice was completely stoic, despite the obvious havoc the circumstances were wreaking on her caller's emotional state.

"Um, lower left abdomen." Naturally, she had calmed down somewhat hearing the lady's lack of worry in reaction to the problem.

"An ambulance shall arrive shortly. Pease remain calm."

Sakura clicked the phone off, not wanting to have to listen to the serene voice any longer than she had to considering the situation's urgency.

In a daze she stumbled her way around the counter and knelt by Temari alongside Kankuro.

"I'll be fine. It doesn't even hurt. Hey. Hey, Kankuro! Kankuro, FOCUS!" Her voice was wavering and unsteady, but she was still able to see than Kankuro was having a mild panic attack and her protective instincts kicked in.

"Hey. Wait a minute. We have to call to say we won't be able to make it! Jus' a sec. There's someone missing…where's…where's Gaara?" She had finally focused by the end of the question.

"Aw, crud." The middle sibling had realized that Gaara had, in fact, disappeared, called to the teens' attention by his bleeding sister.

**'Crap, crap, crap! This is not good! Abort! Abort! We have lost target.'** Even her inner had realized that she situation was dire.

"Ohhh. What do we do?" Sakura's voice was regaining the frenzied edge to it. On one hand, Temari was bleeding because she'd been accidently stabbed…by herself. On the other, there was no telling what her slightly deranged younger brother would do if left to his own devices after seeing blood.

"You go after him. I'll stay here with Temari." Kankuro locked his eyes with hers and said with the utmost seriousness. "Bring him back, Sakura."

She could only nod through the pounding of her heart in her ears.

Sakura dutifully ran out. She searched for a long time. Kankuro had called her on her cell not long after she left to tell her that he and Temari were at the hospital and it looked like she was going to be fine. When he asked if she'd found any sign of him yet, she could only give the sad truth. There had been no sign of him whatsoever anywhere. She'd been meticulous in her search, asking anyone who happened to be walking by if they'd seen a redhead with black marks around his eyes. No one had. No one. The trail was going cold, but there was nothing for her to do but to pursue and Kankuro had to stay with his sister because of some stupid hospital rule, so he couldn't help her at all.

Sakura looked and looked. But there was no sign of the handsome redhead. It was nothing short of halfway into the night's cold unfriendliness when she noticed her first clue.

The pink haired girl had lived in Konoha for her entire life. And never, ever, ever had there been a crowd in that part of the emporium. As a rule, people avoided it. But today was a day of surprises and there was a congregation.

Instinctively knowing that there was something wrong, Sakura ran over to them. They were staring at the top of the cliff that hung over the fair city. No one was allowed up there without permission, and most obeyed this rule. It was slippery up there and more than a few accidental deaths had occurred by people losing their footing and falling off the edge.

But someone was up there, as she saw when she followed her fellow citizens line of sight.

And she knew without a doubt that she had found who she had been looking for the last few hours of her life.

Running with a speed she hadn't realized she had, Sakura sprinted to the stairs she knew for a fact led to the top. It was really more of a maintenance path for the professionals that preserved the great stone faces that were carved into the cliff's front.

The stairs were many and her endurance only lasted for so long. Her thighs were quickly screaming in protest to her sudden exertion but she knew that she couldn't slow down one bit if she wanted to stop Gaara from doing something they'd both regret.

After a frantic stair climbing that she was sure took too long, she arrived at the top.

She had forgotten how dangerous it was up here. Naruto and some of the others had gone up here once on a dare and the imbecile had almost gotten himself killed by falling off the edge.

Sakura was reminded of it, however, when she placed her left foot on the surface. It had ice-like qualities and it wasn't going to help her remain upright.

Realizing the danger, she retracted her foot and looked for Gaara. Somehow she had managed to miss him in her frenzy.

He had turned around to face her and was staring at her with deadened eyes. He hadn't made it far from the steps, but he was still only a few feet from the edge.

"What?" His voice was quiet.

"What're you doing up here Gaara?" Her voice had come out shaky. She knew very well what he was planning.

His only answer was a small flicker in his expression, amusement, maybe?, before he began to take a step towards the three hundred foot drop that waited at the edge.

"NO!" There was no time for the frightened girl to think about her actions. Reflexively, she took the five steps in a sudden flash of speed and tackled the teen on such an angle that they landed farther away from the cliff's edge than they had been a few moments ago.

She straddled him so that he couldn't get up and try again. She wasn't sure that she could stop him a second time. It surprised her that she had even made the eighteen foot distance that had previously stood between them.

"Why, god damn it!?"

Her query was met only with silence and blank eyes.

"You have no right! Your brother and sister, what about them? Did you ever think about that? They don't deserve to go through losing another family member!" Anger had wormed its way to the surface at the thought of what that would have done to her adopted family.

"Who are you to meddle, little girl? This is none of you concern. They will experience less pain if I leave this world now, why prolong the inevitable? Every time they look at me, I know they see what happened that night. How I was covered in _his_ blood, with _his_ body lying next to me."

"No, you're wrong. They love you Gaara, or at least they're trying to. They _want_ to heal, if only you would let them!"

**'Have you taken a look as to what you're doing right now?'** Inner just _had_ to butt in, didn't she?

Sakura noticed the position they were in and, blushing furiously, gets off him. He brushed himself off and stands as she does the same.

He stared into her eyes. They were so much like his own green orbs. But yet they were so different. Hers were bright, fervent in their need to perservere, filled with emotion. His were dead, dull, and lifeless. He had lost his hold on the primal need to cling to life many years ago, and there was no way that she would convince him that this dreaded existence was worth all the pain it brought with it. In his life, he had experienced pain, sorrow, even madness. He had waited for the balance, for there to be happiness and light to flood into his ragged, poisoned existence. But there had been none. He had waited for the endless nights to stop so he could seek reprieve in the supposed bliss that was sleep. But he had been disappointed.

Watching Temari's blood pool on the white marble floors had brought the memories of that painful night into the forefront of his mind, and while her injury had not been caused by him, he felt that he was responsible for a great deal of her pain. After all, his very being in this world had been the cause of their mother's death, and that had indirectly led him to killing their father. So he had decided that this was the balance that needed to happen to right the universe's scales.

And that was the reason for the sad flicker of a smile that only lasted a fraction of a second before he continued his previous path; to the edge.

Seeing that there was no time to reason with him and talk him into rethinking his decision, she did the only thing that she thought would possibly make him pause.

She took a deep breath. And a step forward. Left. Right. Left.

Sakura pulled herself together and wrapped this wounded creature in a tight embrace with no intention of letting go.


	5. A New Duty

I don't own Naruto

'Sakura'

**'Inner Sakura**

* * *

With the knowledge that she was fewer than three feet from certain death, the exhausted pink headed girl had her eyes shut and her head turned away.

It had been only a few moments before that she had taken drastic measures and dared to touch the untouchable Gaara, granted, to prevent his death. There had been no speaking between the two since, only the almost indistinguishable tremors that were rampaging through Gaara's body.

"Girl…" His voice had become angry in his confusion, for this was the second time in one night that she had managed to thwart his suicide attempts and he did not understand why. It was none of her concern if he wanted to end his own life. It was his, after all. He could very well continue his previous course and take this odd girl with him. He was a lot stronger than he looked.

"I-I'm not letting go. You die- I die."

He looks down at her and, sensing his shift, she looks up at him. His green eyes are uncomprehending. They do not understand.

She took a deep breath to steady herself. She very well may die tonight, after all.

"In the time I've gotten to know your siblings, if not you, I feel like I've become like an adopted sister. I love being around them, your siblings. That's why…that's why I can't let you kill yourself! They're hurting too! And I refuse to allow them more pain. I don't know what you've gone through, and I can probably never imagine it if it has made you like this. But…but that's no reason to end it all. The past can never be re-written, and the wounds it cut will only scar. But scars can fade in time." Her nose was burning, a sign that she was about to cry. _Just_ what she needed right now.

"And some never do." He rumbled quietly, calming a little.

She only stared into the jade, seemingly soulless orbs. "I have no answer for that, but you will never know unless you're actually around to find out." She tightened her embrace. "And I'm not letting go. You say you're doing this to prevent more pain to your brother and sister? Fine then. In killing yourself, you will have to take me with you. I know they include me in their definition of family, I can see it clear as day in their eyes. You will be killing more than one of their family if you go through with this Gaara."

He knew she was right on that subject. His blood-related siblings had smiled and laughed more in the past month than they had in the entirety six years before meeting _her_. What was this insignificant, pink-haired _female_ thinking? She had even begun to shake slightly in fear of what he might do, of what he could do. She had dreams and a future that she was willing to sacrifice right here and now. Friends she was willing to leave behind. He didn't 'love' his siblings. It was more of a debt, or a sense of obligation to them. But what was it that made her do this? What did she have in that petite body of hers that he did not?

He could understand the action of looking for him and even that of climbing to the top of a cliff. But none of the rest. Not the tears that were forming at the corners of her emerald eyes, not her courage to embrace him, and certainly not her groundless threat. What did he care if she died? She was taking a risky gamble, tying her life with his.

After all, he _was_ certifiably insane. Hearing a voice and sometimes seeing a creature that told him to kill people was not smiled upon in modern times.

But…what if she was right? What if there was something more? Something he hadn't found yet? What if he missed it? He hadn't killed himself a long time ago because he feared the finality of death. The absolute certainty that there was nothing there waiting for him except an all-consuming emptiness.

His leg involuntarily took a single step back. His body had made the decision already, 'You have lived this long. You can hold on a little longer' it seemed to be telling him. He agreed. He would stick around to see if anything would change, and if it didn't, well, he wouldn't fail next time., she could be sure of that.

Gaara had never truly _tried_ to kill himself before this day, contrary to what he was sure his housemates thought. He had cut himself because the monster that plagued every waking moment, which was all of them, had been screaming for blood. And he tried to control him, honestly, he tried, but whenever something disrupted his concentration he had to fulfill the demon's wishes, even if it was with his own blood.

What if? The question that had followed so many others, now attached itself to him, and it wasn't letting go. The damn parasite was here to stay.

He took a step back and he felt her relax beside him.

It seemed that he had made his decision. He wouldn't jump this night, not yet. But now she had a duty. She had to show him what life could be.

**'You've really got yourself into a pickle this time, kid.'** Inner was face-palming from Sakura's stupidity.

She couldn't help but agree. Who was she to say that she could ever possibly hope to help someone as screwed up as he was?

'How _do_ I get myself into these situations exactly?'

He stared at her pointedly, silently telling her to let him go. He was uncomfortable with such contact, having never had much during his life to begin with. She silently refused, there was no guarantee he wouldn't try again if she let go.

She shifted do that one of her arms was securely around his waist so they could walk, still being extremely careful of the slippery ground.

Once they reached the stairs she released him almost completely and only gripped his hand.

They slowly made their way down the many flights of stairs in silence. And what was there to say, really?

They walked through town, for the most part unnoticed, though the people who did know her from random encounters on the street noted that she was holding hands with a very odd looking young man; he didn't seem to be the type she normally associated herself with.

It took almost an hour of extremely awkward silence for them to finally reach their neighborhood again.

Sakura dialed Kankuro's number on her cell.

"Hey, Kankuro. How's Temari?"

"She's fine, but they won't let her leave for a few more hours and they gave me so much damn paperwork to fill out. I don't even know half of what it's asking! And Temari can't help me because they're letting her sleep and they won't let me in her room! Something about being too noisy." His voice had grown irate, grumbling the last part.

"Well, that's good news. So, more importantly, I found him." Sakura ignored his whining and glanced as discreetly as she could over at her companion who was as stoic faced as ever. It was probably a good thing that he could get it because, knowing him, he'd probably do something stupid like wake her up.

"Really? That's a relief. I thought for sure he'd…" Kankuro trailed off, not wanting to verbalize the rest of the grim thought.

"Yeah. I've got him here with me. When do you think you're going to get back?"

"Dunno. They're kind of busy here. Would…would you mind keeping an eye on him? If it's okay with you. I mean, you know…"

"Sure thing. See ya." She didn't view it as a problem to watch him for a few hours.

"I'll call, 'kay?" His voice showed his relief that Sakura was going to stay and watch his little brother, just in case. They could never tell on days like this one if he would finally just snap.

After hanging up, she had this odd moment. Like she was supposed to remember something, but it just wasn't registering. What was it?

**'Really? I'd thought you were a better friend than ****_that._**** Naruto will be ****_so_**** disappointed.'**

Oh, gods above and below! Naruto! THey were probably worried sick! They had been late meeting them _hours_ ago!

She fumbled with her phone in her back pocket that she had almost dropped in her sudden realization.

"Hey, Neji?" Sakura had to call one of the others she knew would be with the groups because Naruto, being his usual hyperactive self, had managed to melt the buttons on his last cell phone. How he managed that still remained a mystery to even the shrewdest mind in their group of friends to this day.

"Sakura? Where are you? You better have a good excuse because the idiots are bouncing off the walls and I'm not sure how much longer I can restrain myself from killing them."

"'Them'?"

"We must rescue Sakura with the power of youth!" Rock Lee was shouting at the top of his lungs so she could hear him clearly in the background, as well as the sound of Naruto being restrained by an angry Tenten.

"Oh. _Them._ I'm sorry Neji. Something came up. I'm fine, really."

"Good." Something akin to relief showed in the steel composure of the Hyuuga's voice.

Then there was the sound of Neji being ran over by a certain blonde idiot who had squirmed out of Tenten's furious grasp.

"Sakura? Where are you? Are you hurt? Are you dead? Are you in danger? Why aren't you here? Tell me!" The sound of the knucklehead's voice screeched over the speaker and she had to hold the phone about a foot away from her head so she would still retain the ability to hear by the time she was thirty.

"**Naruto! Shut up, you idiot**!" If she were there she would have punched him; as that was Inner who just forced her way out, instinctively clenching her other hand in preparation to hit something. "I'm fine. Something came up and I got distracted, okay? I have to go. Stop bothering Neji or he's going to hurt you."

She hung up on the sound of Neji taking his revenge on Naruto for taking his phone. Her warning seemed to have been given a bit too late. Oh, well. He should've known by now it wasn't a good idea to push the tense Hyuuga's buttons.

She couldn't say that she blamed Neji. At all. Naruto sounded like he was on one of his lack-of-ramen-in-the-past-twenty-minutes induced highs and she would have beaten him herself for one thing or another if she had been there, knowing him and his usual antics

She sighed and glanced over at her prisoner. He was staring at her with a confused tilt to his head.

"What?" She didn't like how he was staring at her.

"Why?" His raspy voice barely registered in the cold night's silence, bringing shivers up and down her spine.

Emerald orbs stared into jade ones, uncomprehendingly. "OK. I give up. I have no idea what the _hell_ you're talking about."

He simply looked at the phone in her hand. "Why didn't you tell Kankuro?"

"I don't know." And she really had no answer. Why didn't she tell his siblings? They had a right to know, after all.

Now how was she going to do this…?

**'Sorry, but I gotta say this. You think ****_you_**** can change him? By saving this guy's life, you seem to have given the unspoken promise that you will change things. But how you gonna do that? You have ****_no_****_idea_**** what of you're in for.'**

'What do you mean?'

**'I can't tell you, dammit! But I ****_can_**** tell you that you two are more alike than you or I may think…'**

Sakura demanded an answer from her irritating inner, but was shunned.

Damn the cryptic, uncooperative little nuisance that invited itself to be a parasite on her consciousness!

They had finally arrived at the Kazes' front door. Finding it unlocked, she opened it and he followed, still holding her hand.

She, remembering the mess that was probably still awaiting their return, ordered him go to wait in the living room. He gave her a peculiar look, but complied.

The kitchen was just as she expected, a mess. She sighed and ran a hand through her pink locks. She began by wiping up the blood that had dried on the white marble with the crummiest rag she could find in the drawers. For good measure, she went over it a few more times with bleach, restoring the snow white tiles to their former pristine glory. Sakura then threw out all the food they hadn't eaten during their early dinner, as it was all bad by then anyway, and put the dishes in the dishwasher.

She glanced around to see if she had missed something in her cleaning rampage, but to the best of her hasty judgment, had not.

Now that her distraction was gone, she could focus on the wonderful sensation of having butterflies trying to come out of the recesses of her stomach and flutter up her throat with their , or was that dinner? It felt _great_.

Sakura pulled herself together for the second time that night. It was time to face him.

**'Are you sure you're ready for this? You walk through that door, and there's no going back…'**

'Not following through with this would make me a hypocrite to my own morals. Oh, do me a favor and make yourself scarce for a few hours.' Sakura told her as she took a step into the living room, where he inevitably was.

Oh, where did it all go wrong? But is this wrong, really? Or were things finally fixing themselves?


	6. Boxers

I do not own Naruto!

'thoughts'

**'inner/shukaku'**

"speaking"

Sooo sorry for the wait! Got distracted, you know...

This is going somewhere! I promise! I have the majority of the story planned out! Constructive criticism is extremely welcomed! Compliments are good too!

**This is told more so from my favorite red head's POV! Hope you like it!**

* * *

It had been forty minutes since she had told me to go to the other room. Two hours since she had found me atop the cliff. Five hours since she had set out to look for me. Five and a quarter of an hour since Temari had injured herself. Three and a half months since she had met us.

Shukaku was whispering things to me. I didn't understand the whispers. It was pissing me off.

He had quieted down considerably when she had come to the top of the cliff. He had wanted to see what she would try to do. I'd seen how she calmed him, and it puzzled me.

Shukaku was not sentimental. He was not kind, compassionate, forgiving, or considerate. There was not a single sliver of a redeeming quality in his entire being. He was a bloodthirsty, sadistic bastard that I hated with every bone in my body. But he had stopped his incessant bitching whenever she spoke. Which was something that he never did. Ever.

So what was it that made him calmed? Was it her? These questions had been a large part of what had fueled me to reconsider my decision to jump.

**_'She's pretty, isn't she? Hot? Sexy? Come on, kit. You've already undressed her in your head, why not do it for real? It would feel good, you know. Her moaning beneath you while you-'_**

'SHUT UP!'

**_'You know you'd like it. Wonder how she is? Her skin? Imagine her eyes glazed over in pure ecstasy!'_**

'SHUT UP YOU FUCKING PARASITE!'

"What?"

I opened my eyes to find her in the doorway of the living room. Her eyes were wide with surprise. Had I said that out loud?

"What did you say?" No, I hadn't. I'd probably growled. There was still an honest curiosity in her voice, no anger or fear.

I deigned to give her a look that showed I had no interest in answering her question.

Her gaze narrowed, not liking my refusal to answer her simple question.

"Well, what do you want to do?"

Huh?

Seeing my blank expression, she explained. "You know, what do you normally do? For…fun?" She seemed to realize how dumb her question was after the fact.

She looked at me thoughtfully. "Come 'ere."

I cautiously got up, wondering what she was doing. She motioned that I sit on one of the barstools. She rummaged around in the cupboards, not seeming to know where what she was looking for was.

I watched as she got out a box of cookies that Temari had cleverly hidden. Cookies had been known to mysteriously disappear in the middle of the night without a trace. I loved cookies. I think that she knew it was me stealing them.

As soon as she popped them into the oven, she turned and looked at me with a skeptical look on her face. "So, I'm just gonna come out and say it, get the elephant out of the room so to speak, why're you depressed?"

"What gave you the idea that I'm depressed?"

"You never talk, you're always up in your room, ergo you're antisocial, you don't take an interest in anything as far as I've seen, you cut yourself, and you just tried to commit suicide. What other conclusion was I supposed to come to after seeing all that?" As she named each reason she ticked off another finger.

"I wouldn't know. But I'm not."

She still looked at me, skeptic. "Prove it. Name one. An interest, I mean."

I just looked at her blankly. Really? She expects me to just come up with something on the spot? Cookies, I supposed. But I wasn't going to tell her that.

She sighed in resignation when she realized I wasn't going to answer.

I jumped when her phone rang. She quickly fished it out of her front pocket and flipped it open.

"Hello? Oh. Okay. Okaayy. No, it's fine. No problem at all. You're welcome. Of course. Bye."

She hung up and looked at me contemplatively. "Looks like I'm spending the night."

I could feel my eyes widen at this. She was going to stay here. But he was always worse at night. I could hurt her. Not to mention the other problem that my body was having with that. Well, could you expect a red blooded adolescent male to think of anything else in this type of situation?

**_'So take her. Make her ours, kit.'_**

I had no response for him. None whatsoever because right now he and I wanted to do _very_ similar things to her. And that was disturbing me. A lot, actually.

The smell of cookies alerted her to what she had put into the oven. Hurriedly, she grabbed an oven-mitt and snatched the tray out of the metal box, careful not to touch the insides of said box.

She immediately got out a spatula and shoveled the burning hot cookies onto a plate. Sakura pushed the cookies to the side and looked at me inquisitively.

"Why did you move here?" Her voice after a few moments of utter silence startled me a little and it took my clogged brain to come up with an adequate answer, "Huh, isn't that funny. I've known your family for months and I don't even know something as little as that." She mused.

"Temari found a good job here." I only gave her the partial answer.

She watched me, eyes narrowed. "Do you want a glass of milk? For the cookies?"

"Hn." She apparently took that as assent and took two glasses out and poured us both a glass. She then tentatively touched one of the cookies, testing to see if they were still too hot to touch or not.

She gave me a few on a napkin and gave a few to herself. The rest were left on the plate, presumably for Kankuro and/or Temari whenever they got back.

I wanted them. I decided to steal them later when she wasn't looking. What they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

She finished her cookies quickly, almost as fast as me, and looked at me thoughtfully for a few moments before standing abruptly and pulling me into the living room. Sakura left me there with a look that said I should stay there if I knew what was good for me. It was amusing, even if I didn't show it.

Sakura returned a few minutes later with her backpack. She sat down next to me and took out her homework and started working on it.

What was wrong with her? Really? Was there a name for it? A medication maybe? Did she prevent people from jumping off cliffs every day? How did any normal person just do what she had done today and just walk it off and do something normal like homework? I stared at her for a few moments.

Maybe she was a little screwy herself. Maybe she was used to hectic events. What did I know; I hadn't really taken the time out to actually sit down a talk to her…ever. I had merely observed her, disinterested, while she interacted with Kankuro and Temari. She hadn't seemed important or special or significant to my life in any way, shape or form. So I had ignored her. But maybe I should rethink that approach. Perhaps…

I realized that I was just staring intensely at the area a little to the left of her face, having been lost in my train of thought. I quickly fixed this and got up to retrieve one of the books from the large pile I had borrowed from the library. I hadn't tried to check them out because the librarians I'd spoken to before never wanted the let their books go to someone who looked like me. They always gave me those disapproving stares and grilling questions that were a little too invasive that only a true librarian would give. I would return them when I was done with them on my own sweet time thank you little-miss-prissy-bitch. However, upon further thought, I had never tried to check out a book from the library of Konoha. I had already made that assumption from my previous experiences in Suna. But the people there had already made me an outcast. Oh, well. Why tamper with a system that works? As they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

It was around midnight that she started yawning. I ignored her. This was normal behavior for someone who had the day she'd had. Sakura closed her homework up and put everything back into her bag. A hand ran though her pink locks, untangling them a little.

She leaned back and closed her eyes. Deep, slow breathing soon followed.

She was sleeping? Really? Just flaunt it my face why don't you?

**'C'mon, one little peek won't hurt anything! Pleease!'**

'Fuck off, raccoon dog.'

Shukaku cackled at something he said that I couldn't make out. I thought it sounded something along the lines of I would one way or another. I proceeded to ignore him.

I went back to my book on Theoretical Particle Physics. I'd already read it, of course. But I wanted something to do and she hadn't allowed me to go upstairs to me bedroom so I could concentrate on controlling my adorable little mental problem. Who wouldn't want one of those? Aren't they just so popular and fashionable?

I sighed and read on.

About a half hour later, she shifted. I looked at her distrustfully. Sakura unconsciously leaned to her right. Farther and farther she shifted; until she was finally resting her head on my shoulder. The pinkette frowned in her sleep and moved me as though I were a pillow to make herself more comfortable. It took her a few moments, but she found a spot. Unfortunately for me that spot happened to be in my lap.

I stared at her in shock. To say that I was unsettled would be a gross understatement of what I was feeling. No one ever touched me. Ever. Well, unless it was to restrain me from hurting myself like she had done not too long ago.

My siblings had developed this fear of me. It was probably rooted from how many of my 'lapses in concentration' they'd seen and had to deal with. I don't really remember what happens in my lapses. They also knew the truth about what had happened that night. They'd known who'd really done it. It was no break in. My father hated me and for a while they hated me too. So in some corner of their minds there was a part of them that feared what I might do to them one day because of what had happened with our father.

I could see that they were trying to help me. But I didn't want them to. I had learned years ago how to become self-sufficient. I saw no reason to change that. When I was finally kicked out, I would move somewhere off in the woods and only come out when it was absolutely necessary.

But this also meant that I wouldn't be able to get up and devour those cookies that were still waiting for me in the kitchen.

A little growl of irritation escaped me.

I thought about it for a moment. There was nothing really I could do. I could wake her up. But, as I had learned from Temari, a female's sleeping disturbed was not pleasant to deal with. I don't think that Kankuro even knew what he had gotten himself into that night.

I sat there for at least a good hour, waiting for the possibility of her wanting to shift her position again and get off me to happen.

After what seemed like the whole night, I heard a car pull up. A door open and shut and I heard a slight murmur. I could pick out Kankuro's voice from it. The car drove away and keys entered the slot in the front door. He clicked the lock over, extra quietly. I head the door open, a slight creak resounding into the silent night. He crept in, trying to be quiet, but, Kankuro being Kankuro, epically failed.

He peeked around the wall, looking to see if we were still up.

"Hey Gaara, Temari's-" I cut him off with a menacing glare- he was talking in a voice that was only slightly quieter than normal. It was still loud in the stillness of the night. Sakura shifted on my lap in response to the unprecedented noise.

When he saw her lying on the couch his eyes bugged out and his hands slapped themselves over his mouth in a state of self-induced horror. He also knew the terrors of waking our sister.

After a moment or two of her not waking up and beating the shit out of the one who woke her, a smirk began to spread across Kankuro's face.

Ignoring this I said, "Help me get her off!" in a stage whisper.

He shook his head, smirk still in place. And. Left. Me. There.

The bastard that called himself my brother left me with a potentially volatile female in my lap!

**'Scared, boy?'**

'Fuck you! You cannot say that you wouldn't be too!' Gods, I hated him.

Huh. That shut him up. What a fuckin' surprise. He was a little wary of her. Who'd thunk it?

**'No. That's not it...'**

The beast receded to the back of his mind, leaving me in peace. I didn't care about what he'd been saying, as long as he shut up.

Sakura moved again so that she was lying across my lap and her head was on the other side on some pillows.

I tried to calm my breathing, to control the urges that _he_ was forcibly creating in me. I roughly pushed him out of my mind and chained him down in a small, cramped corner. He proceeded to growl obscenities at me. But those were easily ignorable compared to what I normally dealt with. This was just noise, and relatively quiet ones at that.

I was eventually ably to lull myself into a sort of half-sleep where I was sort of resting but still aware of my surroundings. Unfortunately for me this state caused me to sometimes think that I was somewhere else.

And so I "woke" up thinking that I was on top of the cliff again, before Sakura had shown up.

My heart was fast and I felt cold. The air of the late fall had been biting my nose and ears. I had been thinking about Suna and my life there.

I looked around to see the cause of the disturbance being Kankuro coming down the stairs in a rather undignified manner. I didn't think that he remembered that little miss was here, considering how he had come down in his boxers.

I smirked. The next five minutes were going to be fun. For me.


End file.
